Pomegranate juice and pomegranate extract do not impair oral clearance of flurbiprofen in human volunteers: divergence from in vitro results

Nutrient interactions with prescription drugs are a topic of ongoing basic and clinical research. Pomegranate juice and a 1-g capsule containing pomegranate extract were evaluated in vitro and in vivo as inhibitors of cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9), with flurbiprofen serving as the index substrate. Fluconazole was the positive control inhibitor. The in vitro 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values for pomegranate juice and extract were below 1% (vol/vol), with no evidence of mechanism-based (irreversible) inhibition. In clinical studies, flurbiprofen pharmacokinetics were unchanged by pomegranate juice or extract as compared to a low-polyphenol placebo control beverage. However, fluconazole significantly reduced the oral clearance of flurbiprofen. Despite inhibition of CYP2C9 in vitro, pomegranate juice and extract had no effect on CYP2C9 activity in human subjects, and can be consumed by patients taking CYP2C9 substrate drugs with negligible risk of a pharmacokinetic interaction.

Antitumor and antiproliferative effects of an aqueous extract from the marine diatom Haslea ostrearia (Simonsen) against solid tumors: lung carcinoma (NSCLC-N6), kidney carcinoma (E39) and melanoma (M96) cell lines

An aqueous extract of the marine diatom Haslea ostrearia (Simonsen) was studied for its antiproliferative properties against human solid tumors: lung carcinoma (NSCLC-N6), kidney carcinoma (E39) and melanoma (M96). These types of carcinoma are particularly chemoresistant. The extract has a potent cytostatic effect in vitro on the three cell lines and blocks the NSCLC-N6 line in the G1/S phase of the cell cycle. Moreover, the extract strongly inhibits tumor growth of NSCLC-N6 bearing nude mice. These preliminary results indicate that the aqueous extract of Haslea ostrearia exhibits inhibitory effects both in vitro and in vivo against solid carcinoma lines, suggesting the presence of a new potent antitumor agent in the aqueous algal homogenate.

Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity: differential effects of methylphenidate on impulsivity

The impulsivity component of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity requires regulation because its effects interfere with children's school performance and persist into adulthood. The present investigation examined the effects of low to intermediate doses of methylphenidate on impulsivity (measured by the Matching Familiar Figures test, a primary index of cognitive tempo) in 14 children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. The mean percentile error score in the highest dose (15 mg) group was significantly lower than those in placebo (P less than .01), 5-mg (P less than .01), and 10-mg (P less than .01) groups. Trend analysis revealed a linear relationship between dose and error score with total errors decreasing as dose increased. Changes in children's error scores were examined using both fixed-dose and milligram per kilogram data-plotting methods. This work demonstrates the need to consider specific task and child characteristics while assessing the child's responsivity to psychostimulants across a range of safe doses and a variety of behavioral domains.

[Longitudinal study of puberty in Dakar]

A longitudinal survey of some characteristics of puberty was performed on a group of Dakarese adolescents, who had previously been followed up from birth to 6 years of age. The collected data were used to determine (1) the dispersion of ages when these characteristics began to appear, and the relationships between various aspects of puberty; (2) the relationships between some pubertal criteria and the end of the growth process and (3) those existing between nutritional status in early childhood and puberty itself. Some comparisons have been made with the results of a longitudinal survey concerning Londonian adolescents.

[The sector and the 30 June 1838 law]

The two current foundations of the French organization of mental health, administratively speaking, are sectorisation and, on the legal side, the law of 30 june 1838. A historical study of the principles which led to the promulgation of these texts, shows that these two foundations are opposed, in fact, by the theories which support them. The law of 1838 stipulated the creation of asylums with a view not only to protecting society but also to protecting the patients from an environment which was incompatible with their recovery. History has proved that these asylums have in fact become places of exclusion. From this statement the necessity of diversification of the structure of psychiatric care and the development of organisations outside the hospital, has become apparent. The policy of sectorisation is to develop the whole of these means, preserving the insertion of the mentally sick patient into his usual social and family environment. With the contradiction which emerges from the existence of a law recognising only internment prefaced by a sanitary policy which extols the preeminence of care outside the hospital, a certain number of difficulties and distorsions between theory and practice can be expected.

A typical presenile dementia. Report of an anatomo-clinical case and review of the literature

A clinico-pathological report is given of a case of dementia of frontal type with EEG changes, associated with a diffuse neuronal loss, subcortical gliosis and laminar spongiosis in the superficial part of the 2nd cortical layer. The authors discuss the cortical biopsy and the post-mortem findings in their case. They draw a comparison between their case an two conditions known as "progressive sub-cortical gliosis" and "Kraepelin's disease" which might be a single entity "atypical presenile dementia".